Congress Dissenter Jitin Prasada Faces Backlash in UP, 'Official' Targeting Miffs Kapil Sibal

Despite voices of dissent being quelled and Congress leaders reaffirming their faith in the Gandhis, the letter signatories seem to be facing their colleagues’ wrath. The party’s unit in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri has passed a resolution, demanding expulsion of Jitin Prasada.

“The District Congress Committee (DCC) demands that disciplinary action should be taken against all those who signed the letter and they should be expelled from the party,” stated the resolution passed by Lakhimpur Kheri district Congress committee on Wednesday.

Prasada represented the Dhaurahra Lok Sabha seat, which is a part of the Lakhimpur Kheri district, in 2009.

Miffed by fresh opposition cropping up with the party, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said that it is unfortunate that Prasada is being “officially” targeted in UP Congress. “Unfortunate that Jitin Prasada is being officially targeted in UP Congress needs to target the BJP with surgical strikes instead wasting its energy by targeting its own,” he tweeted.

Responding to Sibal, Manish Tiwari, on the 23 dissenters, tweeted: “Prescient!”

Local reports said that a group of Congress workers also raised slogans against Prasada, who said the issue had been discussed before the Congress president.

The development comes four days after the crucial CWC meeting, where Sonia Gandhi is said to have offered to quit, but she was urged to stay on as the interim chief. The meeting followed a letter by more than 20 party leaders demanding an “active, full-time and visible” president.

Though a large section of the leaders backed Sonia Gandhi at the nearly seven-hour virtual meeting of the Congress’ highest decision making body to discuss the pivotal leadership issue, the faultlines were clear and appeared to deepen at some points as the day progressed.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh led the demand for Sonia Gandhi continuing as Congress president and leader after leader echoed him while attacking the letter writers, particularly Ghulam Nabi Azad, the senior-most signatory and a CWC member, sources said.

Former president Rahul Gandhi, it is learnt, launched a sharp attack against the signatories, questioning their timing as well as the fact they went public with their grievances. He also rued the fact that the letter seeking sweeping changes to the party organisation and elections to the CWC — was written when Sonia Gandhi was in hospital and the party was battling a political crisis in Rajasthan.